Transcript CLIFFS launch meeting - Loughborough University

CLIFFS launch meeting
26 October 2005, Holywell Park, Loughborough University
BIOLOGICAL AND ENGINEERING
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON
SLOPES (BIONICS)
Stephanie Glendinning
BIONICS
• Overview of project
• Information/research needs addressed
• Information/research needs identified
BIONICS - BACKGROUND
• Earthworks slopes constitute major part of
the infrastructure asset
(£20B of a total £60B for highways alone)
• Failures cost significant £
(£50m for highway maintenance in 1988/9)
• Maintenance costs a fraction of emergency
repairs
(£emergency = 10 x maintenance)
• Climate change predicts:
• Hotter, drier summers
shrinkage, cracking, loss of vegetation
• Followed by:
• More intense periods of rainfall
swelling, infiltration, increased
water pressure, erosion, (flooding)
THE PROBLEM!
STAKEHOLDERS & FUNDING
• 11 industrial partners, including
– Network Rail
– Railway Safety and Standards Board
– Metronet Rail SSL (London Underground)
– Highways Agency
– British Waterways
• 6 Universities
• £1.1m project; £900k from EPSRC through BKCC
Stakeholder Uncertainties and
Information Needs
• Prediction, planning and preparation
or
• What, when and how?
• Cost
AIMS OF BIONICS
1. Establish a world-class facility for engineering
and biological research
2. Improve basic understanding of the effects of
climate on slopes
3. Improve modelling capability to examine longterm impacts
ENGINEERING OVERVIEW
• Construct an embankment 90m long, 6m high, with
climate control
• Simulate road and rail construction
• Monitor biological, hydrological and geotechnical
conditions and their interaction
• Produce a database of performance data
EMBANKMENT DESIGN
29 m
0.5m
topsoil
5m
2
1
6m
Plastic
lining into
draining
channel
RAINFALL SIMULATION
MODELLING OVERVIEW
• Produce a ‘hybrid’ computer model for design and
prediction
• Validate against data from:
– The embankment
– Centrifuge models and
– ‘Real’ slopes
• Develop a methodology to identify ‘at risk’ sections of
the infrastructure
INFORMATION/RESEARCH
NEEDS ADDRESSED
• Test facility with known subsurface and history
• Climate control
• Up-to-date climate scenarios
• Modelling to look at long term, mechanisms,
influence of soil type, construction method, age
etc
• Cross-disciplinary academic collaboration
• Some Stakeholder-defined aims and deliverables
INFORMATION/RESEARCH
NEEDS IDENTIFIED
Stakeholder:
• Lack of information about the networks
(historical and current)
• Lack of ‘higher-level’ engagement
• Insufficient resources
Research:
• Need to incorporate more complex soil models
• Need to be less guarded with research – more
collaboration required
For more information…….
• www.ncl.ac.uk/bionics